Thieves Like Us
by NataliaXDX
Summary: Kirby's cake is stolen by a band of thieves, and he, Grill, and Gooey embark on a journey to get it back. Based off the Hoshi no Kaabii anime and Kirby game Squeak Squad.
1. Chapter 1

"Aww, come on! You have to go with them Mety! It's you're destiny~ Before ya know it, in 30,000 years, you'll be 50,000 and won't have the strength to fight anymore!"

Meta Knight stared at Falspar, unsurprised. Falspar usually did act like a child in his opinion, and brought up his age often. In fact, the only thing that surprised him about his statement was that he got the math right.

The warrior had his mask off, like usual, which showed his cheeky grin and beaming expression. His hair, which was usually in a Mohawk, was down in a heap on his head. He was similar to Gooey in so many ways, such as both of them having Hallelujah moments and excelling at embarrassing someone with strange comments, that Meta Knight was beginning to question if Falspar was a failed Dark Matter experiment himself. And with Nightmare gone, he was stranger than ever.

At the moment, Meta Knight fixed his gaze on the ground, unable to meet the perky puffball's eyes as he was reminding him of Kirby.

"I cannot. I have to watch Galacta Knight. With Dedede bugging him so much, he's growing weaker. And not only physically."

Falspar snorted and draped his arm around him, much to his discomfort.

"Mety, did you just make a joke?"

"No."

"Yes, you did." Falspar frowned, dropping his arm and looking at the ground as well. "But I see your point. That guy's been in that crystal for too long. It's weird that he didn't go Coo-Coo for Cocoa Puffs in there. And to think he was such a good guy. He was probably the only one who complimented my Mohawk everytime I put it up. Hint," he added, nudging Meta Knight as he sighed. And to think the man was serious for a few seconds...

"What about Sir Arthur? How is he handling the news?"

"Pretty good, I guess. For a guy who lost his friend for 20,000 years and just found out he was locked away in a crystal. He was probably the only one who remembered who he was. No offense."

Meta Knight sighed, his shoulders drooping. It was strange. Galacta Knight's identity had been changed in an instant. It was that day... that PERSON... it LOOKED like Nightmare, but it just WASN'T...

"Hey, bro, you OK? You look like you just golfed down Kawasaki's noodles."

Meta Knight realized he had been extremely silent. Was Falspar angry, too? The warrior didn't get that way easily, but he could if he needed too. And he was a MONSTER when he was.

"That isn't the only reason I'm staying," he said with a heavy sigh, eager to change the topic. "I may have an idea of what that burglar wants, and it is a very dangerous and precious possession of mine."

Falspar's eyes widened at this statement as if he were having a sugar rush.

"Ooh, hitting a little too close to home, huh, Mety?"

Meta Knight glared at him, then smirked.

"You know, Falspar... those robbers might take a hair or two from a very unlucky puffball. It is legendary hair, right?"

It took Falspar a while to process these words, but he turned red as soon as he did, shielding his head as Meta Knight snickered.

"Shut up!"

...

"Hey, ya still thinking about him, kid?"

Kirby turned to look at Grill as she approached him, a plate of cake in one hand, her broom in the other. Pepper, Sugar, and Salt were nowhere to be seen. The puff may have looked confused, because the onion witch giggled, which led up to a snort.

"Hey, do you think that I'd let those guys come on the mission? Pepper and Salt are two loose cannons, and they always argue all the time, which will slow us down, and Sugar is too sweet to hurt anyone. Besides, my broom is a good enough weapon."

To make a point, she twirled the broom in the air thrice and set it's rough edge on the ground. Kirby laughed and clapped his hands, but went back to his melancholy nature in merely seconds. Grill sighed, sitting next to the puffball.

"Listen, I miss him, too. I knew him. Some suckish kids, a Plasma, a Chilly, and a Poppy Bros. Jr, trying to make a point on being tough, made fun of him, teasing him about his arms, and calling him a freak, pushing him down and making him cry. I don't know why, but I lost it. A few hits and knock-outs later, he was trying to hug me with no arms and crying. Then we got to be friends for two months, hanging out, laughing, with me protecting him and stuff and him helping me with other... stuff-" she twirled her bang nervously-" But then we both had to leave the planet we were on, him going to someplace called Mekky or something and me having to come here and challenge you. Didn't see him until that meeting at the castle and never saw him after that again."

She put the cake on the ground in front of Kirby and leaned back, putting her hands behind her head.

"But don't think he's gone, Kirby. That guy's unpredictable. One second he's crying and the next second, he's doing tricks on his ball for you."

Kirby nodded earnestly, putting the cake in his lap and turning towards the witch.

"Song-poyo," he murmured, getting a fork from out of nowhere. Grill looked confused for a while, then gasped.

"He sang it to you, too? Man. that songs creepy, but GOOD." She lifted her hands humming a beat, then proceeded with the story. "'Once, there was a dream. Who dreamt it is still unknown. Possibly a great evil, possibly only a child, but nobody knows. The dream realized, right before it ended, "I will be forgotten! What should I do to bring happiness to the one who created me?" He thought and thought, and finally came up with an-'"

"GRILL-POYO!"

Grill fell back in surprise, instantly getting up, broom drawn.

"What's wrong? Is it the thieves? A demon beast? Dedede farting? WHAT?"

Grill froze when she realized Kirby was kneeling right by the plate his hands on the floor, as if he were doing an awkward, but cute push up. Grill facepalmed, growling deep in her throat.

"Who cares if you finished the cake? You know you screaming at me is an immediate alert that lets me know if you're in trouble! Take it SERIOUSLY!"

But Kirby didn't listen to her, shaking his head so fast it looked like a blur. He looked as if he were suffering a traumatic memory.

"Cake-poyo...GONE."

Grill stared at the puff.

"It was... stolen?"

Kirby nodded slowly, his face darkening.

"I know-poyo..."

Grill perked up and smiled.

"You saw who it was? You know where he went?"

Kirby nodded again, getting up in silence. He remained silent before turning to a very familiar castle and pointing, making Grill turn pale.

"DEDEDE-POYO!"


	2. Chapter 2

"Kid, calm down! It's just a cake! There's at least a zillion of them on this planet alone!"

Kirby was running at full speed towards the castle, passing by cappies and knocking some to the ground without even apologizing. Grill could hardly keep up to the puff on her broom, dodging signs and buildings as Kirby navigated through town, his eyes never leaving the castle. In almost minutes he arrived, not even the least bit tired.

"DEDEDE-POYO!" he roared again, stopping at the drawbridge, which had suspiciously raised itself up, as if Dedede knew he were coming. He attempted to jump across the lake, momentarily forgetting he could float, until Grill caught him from atop her broom.

"Dude, CHILL. What is WRONG with you? I can get you another cake."

Kirby sniffled and covered his eyes with his one free hand stump. NO. He HAD to eat that one piece. It was... It was...

"It was Marx's favorite cake, wasn't it?"

Kirby stared up at Grill with large, begging eyes; ones much more cuter than a newborn puppy's. His unspoken message was so clear, that Grill rolled her eyes in exasperation, setting him onto her broom with one quick pull.

"You're a sweet idiot," she murmured, giggling. "Besides, I WANTED to take down Dedede in the first place. Wanna pelt him with eggs while we're at it?"

Kirby laughed as the broom headed inside the castle.

...

Infiltrating the castle was easy- taking down the Waddle Dees was not. They brandished their usual spears, and going past them proved to be a bit difficult off the ground, and Kirby soon insisted they should go on foot, much to Grill's disappointment.

Every time a Waddle Dee tried to approach them, Grill growled at them like a rabid animal until they backed away, clearing their way, which proved very useful.

"I usually use it against Salt and Pepper when they bully Sugar," she said, a proud grin on her face. "Maybe I'll teach you it so you can use it with Dedede or something."

Kirby nodded absentmindedly, remaining silent until they reached the throne room door. He kicked the door open, revealing King Dedede in mid-strike, his mallet right above Escargon's head, with Sir Meta Knight not that far away. Fumu looked as if she had been yelling at the king, with Bun at her side and her parents calming her down, but when they saw Kirby at the doorway, they looked surprised, first about to greet him, and then noticing his angry aura.

Dedede hoisted his mallet, a boisterous grin on his face.

"Hey, Kirby," he said, as smug as ever. "Long time no see, zoi!"

"Cake-poyo," the puff murmured softly, ignoring Sir Meta Knight, Fumu, Bun, Memu, Pamu, and Escargon, his anger focused on Dedede.

"What, zoi?"

"CAKE-POYO!"

"The guy wants his cake-poyo!" Grill yelled simultaneously.

Fumu, Bun, Memu, Pamu and Sir Meta Knight looked surprised, never hearing Kirby's voice go up before. Escargon just looked fearful, hiding behind the throne. Dedede, however, looked confused for a split second, but then, realizing the advantage, replaced that look with another grin, more sinister than the last one.

"Oh, YOUR cake? That one? I don't think I remember eating it..."

Grill sighed and jabbed Kirby in the side in a 'I-told-you-so' way, and just when the two were about to leave, Dedede held up his hand.

"Actually... yeah! I think I remember!" He watched Kirby stiffen and turn back around, his gaze sharp, unlike his usually perky, calm demeanor. Not realizing this was Marx's death taking it's toll on Kirby, he continued. "It was LUSCIOUS. Each and EVERY fork was like a Shangri-La version of food. And with me talking, that's SAYING something. Now, Kirby, you can either ACCEPT this, or resort to violence, which I hear you don't like doing, right, zoi?"

A long moment passed, the only thing being heard was occasional awkward coughs from Pamu and growling noises from Grill. All eyes were on Kirby.

"Well, zoi?" said Dedede, leaning forward, diverting all attention to him. "What's your decis-"

He was interrupted when Kirby let out an earsplitting shriek, shoving anyone in his way aside and landing a kick right on the king's face, knocking him back into his chair. Kirby himself landed not far away from him, holding his head in his arm stumps.

"Cake-poyo... cake-poyo... cake-poyo..." he muttered over and over again, shaking his head and completely ignoring Dedede's unconscious form.

"Son of a mother," murmured Grill, crossing her arms in disbelief and walking next to Kirby. "That was easy."

"Kirby!" Kirby looked up to see Fumu stomping over to him, arms crossed and eyebrows arched.

Oh, great. Just what he needed. A lecture.

"Why did you do that?" she admonished. "Sure, he deserved it, but why?"

Kirby looked at Fumu and his anger faded. What was he DOING? He was getting so worked up about WHAT? A piece of cake? He turned to Sir Meta Knight to see if he had anything to say, but his teacher had instead turned to look at where the king was laying, his throne, which had gotten pretty unstable from the impact. Did he look... worried? His eyes had turned into a green hue, and he looked around frantically, as if searching for something.

"KIRBY!"

Kirby blinked and turned back to Fumu, whose face had turned red, as if she had been ranting.

"Did you listen to ONE word I just said? Could you AT LEAST tell me why you did it?"

Kirby nodded and turned to Grill, who nodded back and opened her mouth to speak.

"Didn't you listen, fancy girl? The puffball only wants his cake."

...

Kirby blinked again and stared at Grill, who still had her mouth open. The voice had sounded manly, and very gentleman-like, but also had a manipulative feel to it that made Kirby shudder.

So either Grill had turned into a man in the last ten minutes, or...

Kirby turned the doorway along with everyone else, eyes widening. Four extremely large mice stood at the doorway, their eyes never leaving Kirby. One, obviously the leader, pulled his ripped top hat down by hardly an inch, covering his left eye. He used his other hand to pull his cape around him, partly covering his devious smirk. And one tiny detail caught Kirby's eye that made his blood run cold- one being the fact that he didn't have any arms or legs; his feet and hands levitates all on their own. This wouldn't naturally bother Kirby, but seeing that 2/3 of the other mice had them, an idea bugged him that this mouse had an accident. Another thing bugged him, but he just couldn't point it out...

The shorter one, a yellow mouse with red, pointed glasses and a short knife in her hands gave him a glare from behind her glasses that made his blood run cold. The stockier one seemed like the completely blue mouse version of Dedede, his eyes not visible, although an eyepatch on his supposed left eye was. The final member had no visible arms or legs whatsoever, floating in some kind of small UFO, his eyes, like the knife-wielding mouse, hidden behind a large pair of thick-lensed circular glasses with swirls on them.

Kirby met all their eyes fearlessly, keeping his gaze on their leader the longest. Something REALLY bothered him about this mouse...

Suddenly, the leader's smirk became even more twisted as he pointed towards Dedede.

"There!"

He vanished in one second, leaving everyone but the mice exclaiming in surprise. But suddenly, he reappeared right next to Escargon and Dedede, who still appeared to be unconscious. Escargon yelped in surprise and ran away to the corner, leaving Dedede vulnerable, yet...

The mouse, with possibly no effort at all, flipped him away as he landed not that far away with a sickening thud, meanwhile staring at the throne as if it were the meaning of life. Meta Knight stiffened and lunged at the mouse, Galaxia drawn, as the other mice warned their leader, seemingly named Dorocche, who seemed to give no regard to the Knight.

Finally, at the last second, just when it looked like the mouse was about to be cleaved in two, he turned to the Knight with the speed of light and blocked him with something that looked like an ordinary wand, sending the Knight flying backwards by a few feet and landing on the floor.

The Knight's eyes widened as Dorocche spun the wand in his hand, ultimately pointing it back at him. "That's-"

"The Triple Star," said Dorocche, holding it in his hands as if it were a baby. "Every one of you Star Warriors knows what it is."

He leaned towards Meta Knight in interest. "Kept a couple of thieves, didn't you? That's strange for a warrior so highly viewed."

He moved the unstable throne away from it's original place, revealing a large turquoise chest with a gold and red lock. Although Meta Knight had tried to protect it before, he made no attempt to protect it now, watching Dorocche's eyes light up like a child on Christmas Day as he gingerly lifted the chest out of the hole, as if afraid that he would break it. Once in his possession, Dorocche flicked the Triple Star once, sending out an attack that blasted the ground open.

"Let's go, you three!" yelled the leader, his expression triumphant. "We'll let the Squeaks know where we end up lat-"

He never finished. At speeds still unknown to him, Kirby had been flung at Dorocche, knocking both of them into the hole and knocking the chest out of the mouse's hands. The three mice jumped in after them, followed by Grill on her broomstick.

"Dorocche, get it!" yelled the short yellow mouse, who had begun to run on the wall.

Dorocche, who had a both surprised and intimidated expression, regained his composure and kicked Kirby to the side, knocking him into the wall. He clutched the chest almost angrily.

"This is MINE! Get your own!"

Kirby's eyes widened. His cake!

He poyo-ed back in protest, latching onto the chest as well to prove a point. This, instead, caused him to be thrown towards the ground and land with a blood-lurching crack.

The last thing he saw was Dorocche land in front of him, hear Grill scream his name, and the whole world went black.


	3. Chapter 3

Grill narrowly missed the attack that was thrown at her from a very expert angle when she leaned over to check the unconscious, and hopefully not dead, Kirby. It crashed into the wall behind her, almost causing an avalanche from the rocks above.

Grill stared at the wall in the alarm, then glared at her attacker. A mouse, possibly 5'5 feet high, with a cape and hat, hands and feet with no arms or legs, and a wicked smile worthy of a demon beast. Dorocche.

"Keep away from us, will you?" he said, his eyes squinted, as if he were trying to look through her, trying to read her thoughts, which was possibly what he was doing. "Why are you after us?"

"Why are YOU after the treasure in the first place?" Grill snarled, her eyes studying the thief. "And where's your gang? Weren't they with you a second ago?"

"They left to deliver the treasure to the base. We need casualties, you know."

"Hmph. I'll never understand thieves."

Dorocche looked surprised, but then let loose a calm, but evil laugh.

"And I the same to you rich folk. I'll never understand why you people have to be so arrogant and proud, flashing your jewels around like prizes."

"Ditto," said Grill, crossing her arms. "But you guys are the same, too. Not as arrogant as Dedede, but still a little too proud. Don't show off so much."

Dorocche stared at Grill with a mixture of shock and confusion, but once more his old composure regained itself in mere moments.

"So it is you, correct, Grill? You were possibly one of the youngest thieves to ever exist. You're still one weird bird."

It was Grill's turn to look shocked, then growl.

"Who ARE you? A gang leader, sure, but what's up with you?"

"Simply a mouse with a bad past," said Dorocche with a shrug from his invisible arms, but judging from his wince, it was more than simply a 'bad past.' Grill decided to ignore it, looking at the unconscious Kirby and ultimately pointed her broom towards the mouse.

"Sure, I was a thief in the past, but it was just to support Salt, Pepper, and Sugar. They were hardly babies! You expect me to just ignore them and let them starve to death?!"

Dorocche, who had kept his wand aimed at her, suddenly dropped it to his side, his expression softening.

"Then maybe we aren't that different," he murmured, with a light twinkle in his eyes. Then, quickly realizing his mistake, he whipped his cape around and vanished in the night.

...

Grill hadn't noticed that she had been staring at where Dorocche had stood for almost fifteen minutes, awestruck. When Kirby snapped her out of her trance, she turned to him, realizing how late it was.

It was hard finding an empty, not dangerous spot under the castle. Everywhere littered remains of demon beasts and other enemies Kirby had been forced to fight.

She shuddered as she remembered how desolate the place looked after she arrived, and having been told by several cappies that they had been attacked by Nightmare. She had returned to Marx, telling him about her experience as his eyes had looked downcast.

"If I were the ruler," he had said, chewing on the spoon he had used to eat his ice cream. "I would've NEVER let that happen, you know?"

She hadn't realized he had actually meant it. Now, looking at Kirby, who looked back at her expectantly from under his layers of blankets she had created from her magic, she knew his fate and final words hadn't come upon deaf ears.

"You wanna hear about how I met Marx, dontcha?" she said, twirling her bang, a habit that she loathed. When Kirby silently nodded, she dropped her hand, staring into the fire that she had created hardly minutes earlier.

"OK, so it was a few years ago, before I'd even heard about Popstar. It was a normal day, and I'd left Pepper, Salt, and Sugar home because I wanted to get some stuff done. And then I heard THEM..."

...

"Hey, ya armless freak! What're ya doing back on this planet?"

"Go and make someone else take care of your sorry ass, freako!"

Grill paused from her flying and blinked.

Armless freak?

She sighed. It was probably a Noddy or something that some kids were sending back to Nightmare. But as she listened, the insults became more violent, turning from 'freak' into 'hellspawn', and 'little pathetic loser' into 'you disgusting armless kid'!

Grill strained to hear more, and heard sounds of fighting, sobbing, and laughing. She straightened in alarm. They were bullying that kid! She took off towards the noises, navigating around trees and large boulders until she came upon the sight.

Three kids: A Chilly, a Plasma Wisp, and a Poppy Bros Jr (apparently the leader) kicking around a small figure and laughing as he tried to get up. When the figure gave up, he broke into uncontrollable sobs and curled up into a tiny ball.

"Leave me alone!" he screamed, voice breaking. "PLEASE!"

This instead gained more laughs from the three as the Poppy Bros mocked the poor boy.

"'Stop it, please!'" he said, guffawing loudly. He leaned forward and violently jerked the boy to face him, sneering. "This is what you get for being born a fr-"

BOOM

The Poppy Bros twitched as a blunt object snagged him in the back of the head, landing in front of the boy with a thud. Grill stood behind his unconscious form, broom drawn as if she were holding a sword. Slowly, she turned to the Chilly and Plasma Wisp, face dark.

"I swear," she murmured softly, her hand beginning to form a pink flame. "I will make you go through HELL if you don't get THE FRICK OUT OF HERE!"

The Chilly raced out of the area faster than lightning at Grill's implied request, as the Plasma Wisp screamed like a girl and blindly ran after the snowman, smashing his head against a tree and getting knocked out. The Poppy Bros, who woke up, instead, scoffed, and took something out of his pocket- a miniature crystal. He seemed to want to taunt the boy with it, but instead screamed as a zap of lightning went through him, blowing him into the Plasma Wisp. The crystal landed in Grill's hands as if saying, 'You're cute. I like you.' and ultimately seemed to power down, turning from turquoise into a haunting teal color.

Grill smirked as she blew a raspberry at the two unconscious bullies, waving her broom around as if they could still hear her.

"And remember, if you ever bother this kid again, I will-"

"UWAAAHHH!"

Grill was suddenly tackled and knocked to the ground. A fourth member? She growled and was about to swear and curse at the figure until she realized it was the boy, wriggling into her arms and trying for a hug without arms.

"Thank you," he whispered over and over again, sobbing. "They were gonna hurt me so much, yup yup."

Grill remained surprised, until the boy stared up in alarm, blinking out his tears.

"My...my ball! Where did they put my ball?!"

The boy got up and ran around, kicking over boulders with surprisingly strong feet as Grill continued to study him. He was probably a millimeter smaller than her. He wore a strange multi-colored red-blue jester hat, decorated with triangles and circles. He was small compared to anyone else she had seen (other than Pepper, Salt, or Sugar) and looked very vulnerable, considering that he had no arms, and where they were supposed to be, it was smoothed down. He had purple eyes which darted nervously around, as if he still thought the bullies were still around.

Grill swiftly jumped onto her broom and floated from behind him, a cheeky grin forming on her lips.

"So, Shorty, I haven't seen you around," she said, laying down on her broom and putting her hands behind her head. "Where'd ya come from?"

The boy stiffened as he stopped looking around, staring at Grill with untrustworthy eyes.

"...far..." he murmured quickly, turning red as Grill looked him in the eyes. He seemed to be more nervous than before, looking at the ground and avoiding her gaze. Grill, in turn, snorted and looked at the sky.

"Whatcha lookin' for?"

"...my ball..."

"Your ball? Is it tiny? Or like this huge bowling ball thing that you use as a weapon?"

"...more like in the middle..."

"Is it those whatchamacallits... those huge balls that people roll on?"

The jester stiffened again, but seemed to be less tense. He nodded silently and shifted his gaze towards the ground. He clearly didn't want to talk. But Grill, again, didn't care or seem to care.

"So... what're ya doing on this planet?"

The jester, obviously giving up on searching for his ball, landed with a thump on the ground, pouting so cutely that Grill didn't think she'd ever seen so much cuteness on a face ever before.

"Well, I wanted to go to Popstar, you know?" he murmured, sniffing. "But Lord Nightmare is attacking that place." He stared down at the crystal that Grill had saved, which lay next to him. "I wouldn't blame him considering..."

He looked down, lip trembling, as if he were about to cry. Grill frowned, willing her broom to float towards him.

"You really care about that ball, don't you?" she asked. The jester nodded, and sniffed again.

Grill went back to the usual position she had when on her broom, floating high and looking around. It took a while, but finally a mix of blue, white, and red caught her eye. She sped towards it and pulled it out of the tree it was in, returning to the jester, who still looked quite upset. She threw it towards him, and, without looking, and as if on instinct, he leapt on, a shocked look on his face, but Grill couldn't tell if he was more surprised that she had given him the ball, or if he was surprised about the fact that he had possibly read her mind.

"You're... giving it to me?" he whispered. When Grill nodded solemnly, he leapt from foot to foot, a large grin on his face. "Hey, hey, hey, thanks! What's your name, onion witch?"

Grill smiled as well, but more at the fact that he seemed to become so happy so quickly. She took off her hat, revealing a wisp of short, green, wavy hair which she hardly showed to anyone.

"Name's Grill. Grade A witch. Nice to meetcha!" She put her hat back on, covering her hair once more. "And you?"

The boy smiled childishly, balancing on his ball with one foot and bowing.

"Marx at your service! I'm a traveling jester, planning to serve King Dedede, ruler of Popstar!" When Grill gave him an impressed look, he giggled and leaned towards her as if he wanted to whisper to her. "Between you and me, he isn't too royal. He's a huge glutton and always picking on his subects, yup yup!" He nodded as if he were agreeing with himself. But Grill frowned.

"Then why would you want to serve under him?" she asked. Marx hummed and stood on the tip of his toes, looking up.

"I have my reasons," he murmured. "One of them being the fact that Popstar was the only planet that was ridden of Dark Matter."

Grill's eyes widened. Dark Matter had always bothered the planet, but always seemed to only attack merchant's stores or rob tiny malls. But recently, they had kidnapped dozens of innocent people, turning them into drone-like zombies which they took to their Creator to do who knows what. Her fellow townspeople had tried to remain hidden when they came, unable to defeat them, but to think Popstar had RIDDEN their own planet of them? It was shocking!

Marx must have noticed her surprised expression, because he giggled.

"They have a Star Warrior that protects them," he said, his eyes beaming. "His name is Kirby of the Stars!"

"Hmm," mused Grill, putting her hands on her hips and staring at the ground. "Kirby... I'd like to challenge him one day!"

"He's amazing," agreed Marx. "But he isn't what you think he is, nope nope!"

A moment of awkward silence passed between them, ended with Marx coughing quite uncomfortably.

"Well, I guess I have to leave," he muttered, fidgeting his feet. "Never try to stay in a place too long."

Grill looked up at him, fidgeting as well, trying to gain Marx's gaze, which she couldn't since he had rooted his eyes to the ground.

"Well, you could stay with me," she finally murmured. "Pepper, Sugar, and Salt wouldn't mind. They're hardly kids after all."

Marx hesitantly stared back up at her. She seemed different from every other person he had ever met- under that hard, tomboyish exterior was a kind-hearted tween who wouldn't mind sharing a house with him, even if it meant that he could annoy the crap out of her. A silent agreement passed through them, the first one that began their friendship, and Marx finally smiled.

"Why not?" he murmured much to Grill's delight. "I could use a place to stay. Sleeping in the bushes isn't working for me anyway. A rat always somehow makes it into my hat."

He rolled towards Grill as she guffawed. This was gonna be fun...

Kirby? KIRBY?

...

"YOU WEREN'T EVEN PAYING ATTENTION!"

Grill sighed as she realized Kirby had fallen asleep throughout most of her story. She pouted as she stared at the sleeping puffball.

It just wasn't worth it. He would just ask her again tomorrow, and she would just have to pay better attention to her audience to make sure he wouldn't fall asleep.

She wrapped herself in a pile of thick blankets, taking off her hat. Beneath it, she took out a strange, red object.

A bow. Marx's bow.

With a heavy sigh, she persuaded herself to fall asleep.

Meanwhile, Kirby smiled from beneath his blankets. Satisfied, he fell asleep, trying to ignore the fact that dead demon beast sockets could stare accusingly at him all night, adding more to the guilt he already had.


	4. Chapter 4

"He's just like me-a not-fully-fledged Dark Matter! He can only show his true power when he possesses someone! And then he's gonna possess Kirby cuz the guy thinks it's his cake in that chest, and he's gonna turn evil, and that Kirby-Dark Matter mutant thing will start a huge Armageddon, and it'll be all your fault for not showing any type of trust or concern or common and logical sense -whatever that means- or...

Gooey, as Sir Meta Knight had noted earlier, was very similar to Falspar. And sadly, one of their similarities was the fact that neither of them could be persuaded easily, and were both more stubborn than the other.

The Knight had turned to the Dark Matter when Blob, his little sister, had childishly insisted on talking to her brother. The conversation had slowly and ultimately led up to the chest and the band of thieves, and Gooey wouldn't let go of the fact that he had just let a contained Dark Matter escape from his clutches. And not follow.

Next to them, Falspar sat on a beanbag, spaced out, as he usually was during any type of conference or discussion. Sir Arthur sat next to Meta Knight avoiding his gaze as a thick line of guilt passed between them, which the latter decided to ignore. Thinking about Galacta Knight's condition was bad enough, with his severed wings possibly permanently damaged after being sliced off, but holding grudges because of him only made the situation worse. Dedede, strangely, sat next to them as well, holding an ice bag to his forehead, murmuring, "Stupid puffball, zoi..." But nobody seemed to be paying attention to Gooey.

As he continued babbling on, Blob sighed softly and squished against her seat. She, along with Kirby, had proceeded to understand situations more and learn new words. By now, she knew more than Kirby, having learned the names of everyone in town, and words such as 'fight,' 'love,' 'nice,' 'mean,' other descriptive words, and, of course, the word Gooey hated mentioning, 'Papa.'

"I don't get why she says it!" Meta Knight remembered Gooey saying to Kirby as they walked down the hall, while throwing up his tongue in what seemed like exasperation and defiance, as if trying to push invisible Dark Matter in the air away. "Sure, she never fought Papa, but she must at least not like him! He threw us out cuz we were 'rejects!' He called us rejects, Kirby!... Hey! Are you listening to me at all?"

Kirby had gone into a trance-like state, like he always did when he was reminded of his past destroyed enemies. Meta Knight had once talked about it with the puffball. He seemed to be uncomfortable because he had a strange habit of making everything right for everyone, even if they didn't deserve it.

'Another thing that doesn't match the star warrior's personality,' he had said softly, chuckling at Kirby's worried expression. 'I wouldn't worry about it too much, Kirby. That's a good thing.' But even he hadn't been sure when he had said it. Someone had to face pain in the end. At least ONE. It wasn't fair, but it was how life worked.

Meta Knight continued to block the Dark Matter's words out, remembering the mouse leader. He had seemed so manipulative and cunning, but something shone behind his yellow-red tinted eyes. Was it anger at him? Shielded fear, like if he were trying to hide a deep, dark secret? Or was it just something glinting in the light?

He mentally scoffed at the idea, but pondered it a bit more with peaking interest, until Gooey snapped him out of his daze with a sharp and insulted, "HEY!"

Meta Knight straightened and stared at the two Dark Matter, each bearing a different expression; Gooey's of annoyance and Blob's of innocence, as if she had done something wrong and was trying to cover it up. Gooey sighed, making himself flat, just like Kirby did when he became upset.

"That's it," he murmured softly, pouting. "I'm going after them." Meta Knight stiffened after hearing this, leaning forward, as Blob blinked in confusion. Falspar, however, whooped, punching the air as if things were finally getting interesting, with both Sir Arthur and Dedede producing no reaction at all, too deep in their thoughts and, in Dedede's case, insults, to even care the slightest bit.

"Gooey, I believe you can handle extreme pressure, or, at least, a fight, but such a huge quest isn't easy to go throu-"

"I'm not changing my mind," the Dark Matter said sharply, an intent expression on his face, which only many him cuter and not at all threatening, which was ironically what he was aiming for. "If you try me, I will lift my tongue and you will face the power of my singing."

Meta Knight was about to say something, but thought better and instead heaved a sigh, sitting back down. He put his hand on the top of his mask, thinking of a way to counterpoint what the Dark Matter had said.

"Well, it's your choice to allow yourself to be mocked or even be brutally injured by this star. He's no laughing matter. In fact-"

"All he DOES is laugh!" Gooey shot back. "In fact, I think he mocks more than he fights, but he's all talk and no fight! FOR NOW! But then he possesses Kirby, everything's gonna be-"

"Hold it!" Falspar was finally beginning to become involved in the conversation, something that hadn't happened for years. He held up his hands as a spotlight formed above him, a choir sounding, with Blob and Gooey looking on with admiration and Meta Knight murmuring a low, "Oh no."

He pushed them away from each and clicked his tongue thrice, as if disapproving the situation.

"Gee, whiz, don't cha' see? Ya gotta both go! Gooey could help ya with Dark Matter smarts and you could do a thing or two with that sword! You could help Grill and Kirby since they aren't that far off, and YOU SHALL BECOME THE ALL-MIGHTY SUPER-TEAM OF POWER AND AWESOMENESS!" He looked blankly at Meta Knight and murmured, "Plus Mety."

Meta Knight shook his head silently, partly because he disagreed, and partly because he was trying to shake Falspar's voice out of his eardrums. He was LOUD.

"I cannot. We will just slow them down. Besides," he admonished, "you know better than to get people's hopes and try to make a small group bigger. Bigger groups are harder to control. We both learned this before; multiple times in your case."

Falspar pouted and crossed his arms, murmuring, "Party Pooper" before leaving the room. Gooey pouted as well, but did not leave the room, standing firmly on the ground in front of the exit.

"I am an unbreakable rock!" he declared. "I am not gonna leave this spot until you let me go!" He squished himself on the floor as Meta Knight heaved a sigh and looked and Sir Arthur and King Dedede. The former seemed to only sigh as well, putting his right hand on his head, as if he were having a massive headache. The latter just grunted and turned away, waving his hand as if saying, "Go ahead. I don't care what you do."

The Knight turned back to the blob and easily lifted him into the air and set him down behind him, leaving the room. Gooey stared at the Knight with shock until he was out of sight, with Blob muttering from next to him, "Rock?"

"Blob, stay with Fumu," said Gooey, his face determined. "I'm going alone, whether he likes it or not. I'm not letting another Dark Matter get away with anything else. He better not take Kirby, though! That guy has a LOT of problems, and kidnapping souls of the innocent is one of them..."

He continued his babbling as he exited the room and didn't stop, forgetting and leaving Blob with a distraught and disorientated Knight who still thought about both Sir Galacta Knight and Meta Knight, and a king, who was a bigger idiot than Gooey himself.

...

Grill smashed Gooey with a broom. She hadn't meant to, but that was what usually happened if you suddenly came flying into her, screaming like a maniac and yelling incomprehensible animal sounds, most sounding like an angry cow giving birth.

First it had been very quiet, with Grill turning small things like pebbles and frogs into things like cabinets and bears with a wave from her hand. Kirby was still asleep, and she was waiting for him to wake up.

Then the screaming started, first being soft and forming words, like, 'Geronimo!' and 'I BELIEVE I CAN FLY!' and then gradually turning into things like "OH GOD OH GOD I WAS WRONG" and hyperventilated sentences like, "WHYDIDN'TILISTENTOHIMWHENIHADTHECHANCEPLEASEHELPMEGODS!" and soon began to also transform into weird click and screeching noises, which caused Grill to look up in concern.

And then, Gooey landed on her, her out of ALL things, and was soon flung away and smashed into the peacefully sleeping Kirby, who in turn yelled in surprise and landed not that far away, on a pile of furniture Grill had created.

Kirby had easily accepted the fact that Gooey was joining them for the quest, as Grill continued fuming at him, but still couldn't believe that the ex-Dark Matter had directly disobeyed an order from one of the most highly viewed knights in all of Popstar. It wasn't like him to not listen to someone.

"I was desperate, OK?" said Gooey, as he continued glancing up at the hole he came from as if said Knight would fall through as well and instantly attack him. Kirby sighed in exasperation and signaled Grill to calm down, which took her over 10 minutes to do, and a handful of insults. But when she had calmed down, the witch nodded in approval, confirming the blob could come as well.

But when she made their campfire and sleeping bags disappear, and when Gooey was out of earshot, Kirby heard the witch mumble insults that shocked him.

"Hmph," she grumbled quietly, making a piece of wood melt as if it were made of plastic. "The last thing I need is the Dark Matter reject in the way."


	5. Chapter 5

"Well, this is a nice place! I wonder why nobody's around!" Gooey enthusiastically hopped around their first destination, which had no 'nice' characteristics about it whatsoever.

It was basically an inferno of a town. Cars were turned over, houses were reduced to debris, water pipes were shattered, leaving water to leak out hazardously, making the fire around them die down and left the three unharmed, but still intimidated.

And Gooey called it 'fun.'

Well, you couldn't blame him. Kirby remembered when they had fallen into a cave with Marx- he caught himself before he burst out crying- and remembered how violent the blob had gotten, despite himself. But even then, he had tried to save the jester. But this time, it looked as if he were taking a stroll through La La Land, and the house debris was shattered candy while the fire and water was ice cream.

Grill and Kirby actually had to pull the blob away from it so he wouldn't eat it.

"Wow, a little hungrier than I remember," Grill said, chuckling. "Last time, he ate the pancake batter off of Dedede, but left some on his face so he couldn't see."

Grill guffawed and high fived the Dark Matter, with him using his tongue as a hand, which Grill didn't seem to mind, but when Grill turned to Kirby, he blinked and stared blankly at her, until she turned away awkwardly.

He still hadn't given up on the fact that the Dark Matter might've whispered to her, but it seemed highly unlikely. Maybe it had been temporary, but still...

Kirby faceplanted in front of the two, groaning. When Grill and Gooey leaned toward him, concerned, he pointed at his stomach.

"Huungry-poyo," he murmured, as Grill gave a sarcastic sigh.

"Sure, Kirby. I'll run to the nearest rundown ice cream parlor and risk the chance to get murdered by a zombie to get you some banana split or something, after you ate hardly 5 MINUTES AGO. Seriously, what HAPPENS to that stuff?"

Kirby gave her a few moments to let her realize she'd fallen into his trap, then gave her another moment to turn red in both embarrassment and surprise, then sigh and turn around.

"Fine, I'll get you each something. But next time, YOU'RE getting food, Kirby."

Kirby moaned and got up. Well, he led himself into that one. He looked at Gooey and smiled, but frowned as he realized Gooey looked terrified. He was about to hug him to comfort him, but the Dark Matter shuddered as if zapped by lightning, looking at the ground as if a corpse was there, or as if realizing he wasn't in La La Land and was instead in some underground destroyed village.

"Wait a minute... WAIT A MINUTE!" he shouted, looking around in horror, then turning to Grill's direction just as the onion witch disappeared. "GRILL!"

Grill's head popped out from behind a car. "Yeah?"

Gooey paused for a minute as if forgetting what he was going to say, then screamed, "MAKE MINE IN CHOCOLATE!"

Grill thumbed-up the Dark Matter and grinned. "Gotcha covered!"

And then the witch was gone again, leaving Kirby with a grinning blob of Dark Matter. Not much time passed by. Kirby and Gooey found a large piece of rope under some debris and took turns looking around as one person stayed and held one piece of the rope while the other looked around and reported back.

Then something went wrong.

Kirby was sitting on what he hoped was a broken fire hydrant, when he felt Gooey tug the rope, urgently. First Kirby didn't mind it much- it was light tugging and it seemed like Gooey was just caught up in the rope or something; but it soon started to violently jerk, hurting his arm and almost making him lose control of it. He stiffened and jumped up, grabbing a nearby crowbar and running towards where the rope led him.

He soon found Gooey hyperventilating next to what seemed like a rundown school with graffiti on it, saying stuff like, 'You blocked me on Facebook' with a frowny face painted with a red substance that made Kirby think of blood. He gulped, running towards his friend and hugging him, with Gooey sighing with relief, as if Kirby finding him had meant the world to him.

"There's Plasma-whats his name guy over there," he whispered softly, once he had calmed down, pointing to an unconscious figure. A light green wisp of fire flickered off of him, making Kirby aware that he was half-awake. Good. He was alive. From next to the puffball, Gooey shifted uncomfortably and walked towards the Plasma Wisp, inching towards him slowly as he reached out his tongue to shake him awake.

"...Mr. Wisp?" he muttered softly and a bit nervously. There was no response from him, but he seemed to wince, signalling that he was awake. Gooey sighed in relief, but he visibly didn't seem to be so. He inched toward him a bit more as shuffling was heard behind a truck wreck, as Gooey whispered, "Mr. Wisp...? Can you hear me...? ARE. YOU. AL-I-VE?" Gooey sounded out each syllable as if talking to a foreigner. This would usually amuse Kirby, but instead, he stiffened, sensing danger emanating from the Plasma Wisp. Then he realized what was wrong.

"No, Gooey!" screamed Kirby, attempting to pull the Dark Matter blob back. "Ambush-poyo!"

Gooey gave the puffball a strange look, but when he understood what the puffball meant, it was too late. The Plasma Wisp suddenly leapt up, screaming. Gooey was knocked back, landing on Kirby with a sickening thud. The Plasma Wisp chuckled darkly, a strange, tattoo-like badge on his arm, signifying he was some sort of high class gang member. He squinted at the two, and glowered at them.

"I am not a normal Plasma Wisp," he hissed, smiling ominously. "I am... the EAGLE OF THE ROAD!"

The end of his extremely short speech echoed in the distance, and from all around them, gang members popped up, hunched up and smiling as if they had eaten something extremely spicy. From a sewer, a Barbar, incredibly smaller than the ones Kirby usually saw, swirled out, teeth sharper than nails. From behind an overturned and burning Mustang- or at least, that's what it looked like as if burned-, a female Broom Hatter with a spiked hat came out, clicking some sort of dog collar- with a boxin tied to the other end, much more violent than others seen before, spewing foam at the mouth and barely being held back by the collar the Broom Hatter held. A Chilly frosted a column of water pouring out of the base of a broken fire hydrant, sliding across it slowly.

"We're gonna die!" whimpered Gooey, strangely not cowering behind Kirby. Kirby wanted to put himself in between him and the Plasma Wisp, but decided against it. Then the two would know Gooey was the weaker of the two, and then...

"Hmph, Dorocche said I had a challenge. He didn't say two babies were going to be my competition."

Kirby stiffened once more as he heard the smooth feminine voice pierce and interrupt the gang members' growling and laughing. The members stopped and looked towards the top of the pile. A familiar figure stood above them all. She was yellow, with a long snout and slight frame, along with the signature large ears of a mouse. She wore a long red cape and large, shiny red shades, and had her arms crossed, just like Kirby remembered them to be last time he met her. He recognized her immediately. She was one of Dorocche's gang member. She smirked at them slightly, her glasses glinting in front of the fire.

"I remember you. You got pissed at that sad excuse of a king when you thought he stole your cake. DELICIOUS, by the way." She snickered as Kirby balled his stubby arms. "Calm down. You aren't as cute as you usually are when you're angry."

Kirby swallowed his anger, cooling down almost instantly. It wasn't worth it to get so worked up over the cake. When he got it, he got it, and he would pretend none of this ever happened. He noticed Gooey had finally decided that cowering behind him was the best decision, as he could feel Gooey breathing on his arm, the reason being that the blob liked to stick next to people when he was scared, which made others very uncomfortable, but not him. Gooey clearly seemed confused, since he did not witness the castle drama from earlier, but ultimately chose to ignore it and jump to the point:

"A-are you go-gonna eat u-us?" he sputtered instead. The Plasma Wisp laughed and floated right in front of him.

"Haven't ya ever heard of survival of the fittest, ya reject?" he sneered, crossing his invisible arms. Kirby inhaled deeply, drawing all attention to him. Oh no.

The puffball walked away slowly, covering his head even more slowly and closing his eyes. The sky suddenly became even darker, with thunder rumbling in the distance. A few raindrops fell as Gooey stared at the Plasma Wisp, who didn't seem to notice the sky, a smile growing on his face, if a bit forced.

"I'm sorry," he said sweetly, his right eye twitching. "What did you say? I didn't exactly hear you." The Plasma Wisp leaned towards him and said slowly, "Reject~"

The rain started pouring even more, up to the point where it almost soaked the Plasma Wisp. Gooey giggled innocently, his face brightening so much, it made the Plasma Wisp float back at least a foot in intimidation.

"Survival of the fittest, hmm?" he hummed softly, his eyes diverting to the ground. "Then you won't mind me doing THIS!"

In a split second, he grabbed the Plasma Wisp with his tongue and threw him straight at the Broom Hatter, knocking both of them out unconscious and knocking the dog chain out of her hand. The boxin raced towards the blob, barking violently. Gooey simply jumped over the dog and grabbed it's chain, pulling it back and knocking it down. He managed to rip the boxin's right boxing glove away from him, causing him to screech rabidly. With the leash, he used the boxin as a mace to swing around, howling, and managed to smash into the Barbar, knocking him down, twirling and throwing the boxin away as if he were competing in the Olympic Hammer Throw, making the boxin fly at least thirty miles into the air, with a crash heard in the distance. The Plasma Wisp got up once more, zooming towards him, but the ex-Dark Matter smacked him away, straight into the overturned Mustang.

"Hey!" yelled the Chilly angrily, raising an arm to defend itself. Gooey, instead, marched towards him, the rain from above stopping as the fire continued to roar, causing the Chilly to melt, with Gooey staring at him all the way. Once everything had died down, he cheerfully turned back to the mouse woman, smiling from ear to ear.

"We- or, at least, I- think your leader took the wrong chest," he said, sparkles emanating from around him as his innocence returned and Kirby dropped his arm stumps so he could look at the damage Gooey's rage had caused. "We think it's a small misunderstanding, but-"

"Dorocche knows EXACTLY what's in that chest," interrupted the mouse, her expression dead serious. "An extremely tremendous power- enough to give us anything we've ever wanted. We're still unsure what it is, but it might be-"

"Kirby's cake-poyo!" Kirby stepped forward in a battle stance, his brow drawn forward as he pouted. The mouse lifted an eyebrow in confusion, staring at the puffball.

"Wait... what?" She paused, looking over from the blob, to the puffball, to the blob again. Then her laugh pierced the air like ice, and she lifted something high into the air, face darkened. It was a chest, similar to that of the one stolen. "So, you're desperate for cake, huh? If you are, then I've got a surprise for you!" She twirled the chest into the air, as if it were a basketball. "Get this chest, and you'll get a cake right away, kid! But I doubt you could easily defeat me considering your weaknesses and my powers..."

And she was gone. Kirby froze, looking around in surprise. But she had vanished.

He stared at where she had last been almost angrily. She had laughed at him! But for probably a good reason. The cake wasn't exactly one of a kind- it was a strawberry shortcake, for crying out loud! But as Kirby thought back on it, he remembered Marx, who had always been fond of red velvet cake, and them, promising to one another that they would never let a cake out of their sight again, and never, NEVER let Dedede steal it. The thought filled him with rage, causing him to race toward where she had been, much to Gooey's dismay.

Leaving the blob behind, he made it to the top of the pile of cars and debris, looking around for any sign of the mouse woman. And after less than a minute, there she was, hauling the treasure chest the whole way as she snickered under her breath- which infuriated the puffball even further.

With one warrior cry, he leapt from the pile, flinging towards the mouse at top speed. The mouse heard him, turning to his voice and crying out in alarm. At the final second, she leapt out of his jump range as he landed right behind her, doing everything he could to keep up with her.

"Give Kirby cake-poyo!" he yelled at her defiantly. She ignored him, plunging her claws into the wall and jumping off, landing in front of a doorway not that far away. She entered swiftly, her gaze never leaving Kirby as he entered it as well.

"Wow, you have guts," the mouse woman said flatly, handing the chest to a small, cute, yellow, mouse-like creature as they hid away in a corner. "Well, whatever. I haven't formally introduced myself."

She slightly bowed just as Dorocche had earlier. "My name's Spinni. And I know you're Kirby," she added quickly, just as Kirby gestured to himself. "Boss talked about you. Sees you as 'formidable' if you even know what that word means."

Kirby turned red, partly in anger, partly in embarrassment. "Cake-poyo..." he murmured, looking at the chest enviously.

Spinni grinned, her hand grasping something from behind her back. In hardly a second, a shuriken whipped past him, barely missing him by inches. Kirby puffed up his cheeks to inhale it, but was smashed to the side by Spinni, knocking him into the ground.

She signaled the small mouse to run away with the chest, smirking all the way. This kid was going to be easy.

She vanished again, this time reappearing right behind Kirby and kicking him away so hard, he momentarily became airborne. Spinni appeared in front of him, kicking him again and causing him to crash headfirst into a wall, then falling flat onto the ground, panting heavily.

With a low un-Kirby-like growl, the puffball puffed up his cheeks and instantly inhaled. The power was enough to knock Spinni off her feet in surprise as she yelled a loud, unfeminine-like, "WHAT THE HELL?"

Kirby inhaled harder, up to the point where he could hardly breathe, when finally, he got what he wanted- the chest, with the small cute mouse at the end, who let go in fear and squeaked, jumping up and down until it reached Spinni, who had landed not that far away, her glasses slightly tilted, her eyes wide with bewilderment.

"What... the hell...?" she whispered again, looking at Kirby as if his face had disappeared. Kirby gulped and rushed out of the doorway just as it vanished, coming face-to-face with Gooey, who had a smile on his face.

"Guess what?" he asked, eyes wide with excitement. "We're at where we were supposed to be. That place they set up was a hoax. And I got chocolate ice cream!"

Kirby didn't understand what the blob was going on about, so instead, he thought about the mouse woman's words. But as he contemplated them, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He raised his arms up in defense and turned around, about to strike the perpetrator, until he realized it was Grill, with two bowls of ice cream in her hands and a cheeky grin playing on her lips, not at all noticing his nervousness or the unconscious gang members littered around them.

"So," she said instead, lifting the bowls. "Who wants to eat?"


	6. Chapter 6

"Just say it with me here: my. M-Y. Say it."

"M-meehhhhhh."

Grill sighed with exasperation at Kirby. Teaching him English was like teaching Gooey geometry. It would never work. Kirby, however, had wanted to learn ever since that Spinni woman had pointed out his dyslexia. So far, in the three days they had traveled, he had learned 'he', 'she', 'him', 'her', and 'hey,' something he kept repeating, as it reminded him of Marx. But for one full day, he had been stuck on 'my' and 'me.' He just couldn't say it.

After what seemed like hours of sounding out words that sounded like zombie noises mashed in with constant 'poyo's', Grill gave up, jumping on her broom and ignoring Kirby's protests.

"Forget it, bro-bro," she said, nibbling on some leftovers of Kawasaki's noodles, being one of the few people who could withstand the spice. "I give up. Ask Fumu or something." Kirby shook his head, but remained silent until they encountered a small town; their second destination. The puffball felt Gooey move next to him, eyebrows furrowed in agitation.

"Ugh," he groaned, pouting. "I know this place. Kinda like Floria, except with a LOT of surveillance. Really top notch, ever since the... let's just call it the so-called 'XYZ Affair.'" Kirby and Grill gave him a confused look, so he continued.

"Another place nearby, in the same region as this little town, another town made a pact to never bother this town, since they had more power than here. The little town- let's call it Tiny McTinyface- agreed. For a while the two towns lived in peace, trading and doing other town-y stuff. Then one day, this stupid leader rules the large town like some sort of dictator and messes everything up- the trade, the money-making, everything. Now, you see, it didn't really bother the two towns at first- Tiny McTinyface's leader- let's call him Francis since that's his name- this guy Francis sends two people to talk the leader into another way, right?"

But get THIS. The leader REJECTED them. He said that just to TALK to him, they had to pay this huge ransom of money that the town didn't have, because they hadn't traded much. Francis was PISSED. He wasn't one to start wars, but ever since, the two towns had been at war. Kinda sad really."

He paused as Grill and Kirby stared at him with wide eyes. "What? Is there something on my face?"

"How do you KNOW that?" Grill asked, crossing her arms and lifting an eyebrow. "Were you some detective when you were a baby or something?" Gooey blushed at the half-compliment, shaking his head.

"Nah. Being in the Dark Matter league really got me into private things like those. I literally know everything about everyone in every land we're gonna go to. Like the mayor in the next town never steps outside, and a very famous woman in the town after that has..."

Kirby tuned the blob out and stared at him as he happily explained his insight on the towns. He noticed that the blob had a much easier time explaining his past, as if it weren't filled with darkness and guts and other things that were too dark for the puff to imagine in his mind.

He wasn't fond of mentioning his Creator, or 'Father,' but he had to sometimes, and now it wasn't just him saying, 'The Weirder Version of that Goth Guy from that Wizard Movie.' He actually said, 'papa,' if a bit hesitantly, as if the giant, bloodshot eyeball were to appear any moment.

Kirby noticed he himself had been calmer lately, so whenever he thought of Marx, he wouldn't go bursting out crying in public. He had matured much ever since Nightmare's defeat. Since there were no more demon beasts to fight, he literally had all the time in the world to learn common sense and grammar. He almost spoke fluent English, if not for the 'me's' and the 'my's' and other words that caught him off guard. He could listen to them, but his mouth couldn't move in a way so he could form them, which upset him and made him feel weak in situations where the villain was mentally smarter than him. With demon beasts, it was just about physical strength and hope. But with these later, more twisted villains...

He was snapped back in reality when he lightly bumped into Gooey, who had stopped moving. As he looked up he saw small houses, just like their village's, piled next to each other in a sophisticated manner, as if they were trying to draw villagers away from the larger town.

It was Tiny McTinyface.

"So, any ideas, Detective Gooey?" asked Grill signalling towards the gate. A guard, a Chilly with a huge mustache who was the size of a Cyclops, stood right there, his intense eyes snapping to places if he heard even one sound. Once, he actually froze a bird without bothering to set it free, instead glaring at it and muttering something under his breath, then turning away and continuing his 'work.'

Kirby inhaled sharply, then turned away in disgust. He hadn't realized such a sweet town would have such horrible people. He turned to Gooey, who looked just as clueless as himself.

"I-I don't get it," the blob sputtered, eyes wide. "There was patrol, but not THIS heavily guarded. Maybe they added more after I entered..."

As he pondered over his strange theory, Grill stared at the gate, her glare intensifying each moment.

"I know this guard. He was formerly the type of right-hand man for our own mayor, back in my home. But he was a lot nicer. And didn't have a mustache. Seriously, what the hell did he do to his face?"

Kirby didn't know why, but after that statement, he felt better by a tremendous degree. Knowing that Grill wasn't too worried made him feel relaxed, which cleared his mind up by a bit and allowed him to speak.

"Grill-poyo know way around?" he asked, turning to her as Gooey continued talking. The onion witch nodded, but frowned.

"He'll know me, but judging on how he's treating everything around him, he won't exactly welcome me with confetti and party streamers. I have a plan, but I can't physically meet him. And you can't exactly talk. It'll just be confusing since he doesn't know your dialect. Not that it's a bad thing!" she added hastily, noticing Kirby distraught expression. "Who's a complete buffoon and has pranked with us before...?"

Both she and Kirby smiled after a few moments of thinking and turned to Gooey. The blob had taken a couple of dandelions and had stuffed them up his so-called invisible 'nose', which made him look like a bigger buffoon. He looked back at them silently.

"What?" he finally said.

...

"WHAT?" the blob roared, spitting out the final dandelion. Grill had explained her full plan to them both, and Kirby had to say, he was impressed. Each part was clearly thought out, till they got out of the town. It was just like every prank plan they ever pulled on Dedede, except here they were risking their lives, and weren't going up against a complete idiot. But Gooey was shaking his head frantically, as if he were trying to shake the plan out of his head.

"No way, no how! It's crazy! How do you expect that plan to work?!"

"It's more of a dare than anything else. But it HAS worked before," Grill pointed out, an amused expression on her face, despite the situation. "It's worked two times, at least. Officer Chill isn't exactly the speediest bullet in the pack, but he WAS nice." The onion sighed and shivered, even though there was no breeze. "Weird how things can change."

Kirby had noticed that ever since their journey had begun, Grill had become more and more quiet, as if Kirby made her uncomfortable. But even he couldn't blame her for that. He had killed her supposed former best friend. In thought, he remembered he would have to ask her more if they survived.

Unbeknownst to Kirby at the moment, Gooey had agreed, after being promised a heaping helping of food. Of course, this plan would have to rely on hope and luck.

Huh, Kirby thought, eyes downcast. Kinda like fighting demon beasts.

...

"OFFICER!"

Officer Chill stiffened, turning to the noise. The voice sounded familiar; young, innocent, and frightened. Chill instantly lowered his weapon, a small taser, and turned to the blob, eyebrows arched downward as he stared suspiciously at the blob, who had come out from the inside of the city gates. The blob had stopped abruptly in front of the officer, panting and hyperventilating sentences. The officer himself was a burly figure up close, and almost made the blob forget his lines, but he instantly remembered them and continued with his act.

"A-a theft!" he sputtered, making the chilly perk up with excitement. "A man took something from my uncle, Officer Chill!"

The officer swiftly snatched something from his pocket- a notebook, thank goodness- and put it in front of his face, his expression almost beaming determination. "Finally!" he boomed, his voice as thick as fudge. "What did the man look like?"

Gooey gasped in some air again, building tension, then looked up, desperate. "He-he had a weird glass-y thing on his left eye!"

"A monocle?"

"Yeah, a monopoly!"

The officer brought the notebook up to his face, then looked back up, and blinked in confusion. The blob had a monocle the size of a tomato, roughly balanced on the left side of his face. He looked just as serious as he did before as the officer said a small, "...O...K... what else?"

"He... he had a really bushy mustache!"

The officer nodded slightly, looking back at his notepad and writing the feature down as well, then looked back up... and the blob had a huge mustache on his face, an even more serious expression on his face. The chilly stared at the blob even harder, squinting.

"Uh...huh... any distinguished features, young lad?"

"He was dressed just like a yodeler!"

A minute passed as the Chilly stared at the blob, a hard expression that made Gooey slightly frightened, but he managed to sputter, "Are-aren't you gonna write that down?"

"Juuust testing something," he murmured, focusing his glare on the blob as he slowly closed his eyes and blinked... and the blob suddenly had a yodeler hat on his head, his face more intense than ever.

The chilly cop cried out in alarm, then murmured, a bit frightened, "And what did that man steal?"

The blob leaned in slowly, causing the cop to step back, and said something that made the cop freeze, not out of fear, but out of stupidity:

"A KISS."  
...

"STOP! IN THE NAME OF THE LAW, I COMMAND YOU TO STOP!"

Grill and Kirby froze as they saw a Chilly barrelling towards them like a living cannon. Gooey was running right behind him, frantically trying to warn them, but his words were indistinguishable.

Grill stiffened from next to Kirby, grabbing his hand and pulling him away, her broom nowhere in sight.

"Where's broom-poyo?" yelled Kirby, trying trying to keep up with the older girl. Grill shook her head, and Kirby quickly understood: he would recognize her. She proved his theory correct moments later when she took off her hat and made it evaporate into nothing. She shook her head to free her tangled hair, which slightly surprised Kirby. It wasn't long, as most witches had it, and it wasn't old and brittle for being under her hat for so long. It was short and luscious, with a small bang where her revealing hair was supposed to be.

She cut a turn, dragging Kirby along with her. The officer, however, was catching up, inch by inch, his monstrous size giving him an extreme advantage. Grill seemed to notice this; she went through smaller spaces, overturned mini-shopping bazaars- anything to get away from the officer.

Finally, something so miraculous and unbelievable happened that very moment, Kirby had to think it over dozens of times, and even then, it still didn't make sense. Grill accidentally let go of Kirby's hand. She screamed in surprise, as he wasn't even running at that very moment, so he instantly fell behind. Grill attempted to grab his hand again, but he rolled away, straight towards the middle of the town. The officer, instead of following Grill, must have noticed he was a weaker runner and went after him, much to Grill's dismay.

Meanwhile, Kirby kept rolling and rolling, unsure of where he was going- until he bumped into something. Something soft. He got up, dizzy, and waited for a second or two for his vision to clear, revealing that he was inside the town, which was made a beautiful stones and concrete. He felt secure for another moment, then turned around to see what he landed on.

And met a face just like his.

He yelped in surprise, jumping back. It was a puffball! A WOMAN puffball!

She was many years older than him, an adult puffball. She was a very pale green, with a pile of very long, wavy, brown hair wrapped in a white bandana like a ponytail. Her eyes were just like his, except a deep shade of alluring purple. She had dropped a large jug that had formerly been filled with water. She looked as bewildered as he felt.

"A... another puffball...?!" she gasped, stepping back. "But... how?! A star warrior! I KNOW you're a star warrior!"

She saw Officer Chill rushing towards them and instantly understood the situation. She turned back to Kirby, her eyes intense.

"What's your name?" she asked sternly.

"Kirby," he answered, forcing his 'poyo' down. It would be awkward if the woman were to say 'Kirby-poyo' whenever mentioning his name. The woman nodded and gave him a quick smile.

"Just go with whatever I say right now, OK?" Kirby nodded, still shocked at his discovery.

Meanwhile, Officer Chill had skidded to a halt, staring at the woman with wide eyes.

"Miss Analia!" he gasped, his voice shaking and his chest heaving as he pointed at the puffball, who flinched. "This... this NUISANCE has invaded our land! He is an invader! An enemy! He-"

"-is my son. This is my son, Kirby."

Kirby inhaled sharply at the unexpected reply, but Officer Chill received the worst of it. He momentarily turned into a living statue, then ran off screaming. A few awkward seconds passed before Miss Analia turned to the other puffball, arms crossed.

"Care to explain?" she asked quietly. "'Kirby?' As in Kirby of the Stars?"

Kirby blinked, then jumped up and down. "Kirby! Name is Kirby-poyo!"

The puffball stared back at him, her gaze, if a bit stern, still had a kindness about it that proved she slightly did trust him.

Kirby heard the sound of wind moving around, then stiffened as he felt Grill go in front of him, asking if he was OK. He was slightly upset since her hair was hidden again, but he listened to her anxious concerns.

"I am SO sorry, bro-bro!" she said, her face beyond worried. "It's hardly the first day, and I almost went and killed you!"

Kirby insisted he was alright and introduced her to his new friend, who had such a soft smile, it reminded him of a choir angels. The puffball was about to introduce herself, when Gooey came running towards them, faceplanting right in front of them, his breathing heavy.

"Snow man... running... me... dying... MUSTACHE..." he heaved into ground, ultimately getting knocked out as a result. Analia stared at the blob, before turning towards Grill and Kirby, her expression unreadable.

"Why... why don't you come into my house, hmm?" she asked awkwardly, picking up her jug of spilled water. "We have much to discuss."

...

Grill and Kirby fell back laughing on their newly polished floor, courtesy of the young woman. A very fancy place, it was probably was five times bigger than Kirby's own house, covered in a carpet made of red velvet and expensive furniture. The woman had accepted that the puffball was indeed Kirby, and had decided to let them stay, until they were to leave, and soon formed a small friendship with the three.

Meanwhile, Gooey glared at them both, his fake monocle cracked from the middle and his comically large mustache crooked. He pouted at them as they got up, holding their stomachs, then laughed again as he continued to glare at them.

"Gooey did it-poyo!?" said Kirby, wheezing and attempting to straighten Gooey's mustache before bursting into another fit of giggles. Grill fixed it instead, then gave Gooey a large bowl of macaroni and cheese from almost out of nowhere. Gooey immediately forgot his anger and snatched the bowl away greedily, turning away and devouring it as Grill turned to Kirby, a light smile playing on her lips.

"Heh, we're lucky that woman knows you, kiddo. We almost got caught!" She put her hands behind her head nervously, as Analia entered, holding a strange box, covered in ornate decorations and paintings. Gingerly, she placed it in front of Kirby, sitting down in front him.

"Would you mind if I told you a secret?" she asked. When Kirby shook his head no, she continued. "I was a star warrior, too. You probably knew that, though...-" she smiled when she noticed Kirby's surprised and excited expression- "but anyways, this was given to me by Sir Arthur. I'm sure a powerful warrior like you has heard of him, right?" She received a small nod and smile from the puffball. "Alright, then. Promise to give this to him? You could do that, right?"

She received another nod and then sighed. Almost relieved, she gently shoved the chest into his arms, pulling at her hair nervously. "A CHILD. Who would've thought a child was destined to ultimately bring down Nightmare and care for the citizens of Pupupuland?"

Kirby blushed slightly, nodding in modesty as the older puffball's smile widened as she got up, ruffling his head and leaving. He fell back in a small beanbag, curling into a small ball and looking at Grill expectantly. The witch sighed, then sat down in front of him, pulling Gooey, who looked cross-eyed at his huge mustache, close to them, frowning slightly.

"So..." she said quietly, putting her hat to the side, once again revealing her hair. "You wanna hear about Marx..."


End file.
